Zuckerberg Wants to Slap Facebook Logo on Oculus Rift (Update)

If you’re still not sure how to feel about yesterday’s news that Facebook will acquire Facebook will acquire Oculus, we have some news that may bring out the pessimist in you. A report from The New York Times claims Zuckerberg plans to completely redesign and rebrand Oculus, though that goes specifically against what Zuckeberg said in a blog post yesterday, which outlined his plans to let the company operate on its own.

“According to a person involved in the deal who was not allowed to speak publicly because he was not authorized by either company, Facebook eventually plans to redesign the Oculus hardware and rebrand it with a Facebook interface and logo,” The New York Times said.

The news doesn’t line up with statements from both companies that the deal won’t have an impact on Oculus’s future gaming plans. Facebook’s done a pretty good job of keeping other acquisitions like Instagram and WhatsApp independent for the most part while integrating them into its own services where possible. However, it looks like Facebook is making a huge bet that virtual reality will be the next big platform after mobile, and that means it will want to control every aspect of the experience from hardware to software.

If we’re lucky, Facebook will let Oculus remain in control. The idea of a Facebook-branded virtual reality is a scary ad-filled concept. Hopefully Facebook’s involvement in Oculus will be limited to funding and, perhaps one day, making it easier for users to connect to one another.

Updated: Facebook has officially denied the NYTimes story in statement to TechCrunch, telling the site it’s “not true and not in the spirit of our relationship” with Oculus. It’s still unclear exactly how closely Facebook will be involved with its latest acquisition, but it sounds like we won’t see the company slap its logo on the virtual reality device any time soon.